Duc de Cassel

The Duc de Cassel was a French nobleman at the court of King Louis XIV of France during the late 17th century. Cassel was behind many plots against King Louis, opposing his strengthening of France's absolute monarchy.

Biography
The Duc de Cassel was a powerful noble who held lands in northern and eastern France, and half of the nobles were in his debt. Cassel wielded immense political power, positioning him to oppose King Louis XIV of France's attempts at the centralization of power in the Kingdom of France. In 1667, Cassel conspired with Anatole Montcourt to prevent King Louis from moving the royal household to the Palace of Versailles, hiring Montcourt to lead highwaymen in attacks on carriages heading through the woods to the palace. Louis later discovered Cassel's role in the conspiracy through the espionage of his spymaster, Fabiel Marchal, and he demanded that Cassel send him proof of nobility, having stripped Montcourt of his lands through discovering that he was a commoner. Louis also spited Cassel by sending him a portrait of himself as a gift.